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DISTRESS
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DISTRESS (from the O. Fr. destrece, destresse, from the past participle of the See also:Lat. distringere, to pull apart, used in See also:Late Lat. in the sense of to punish, hence to distrain), pressure, especially of sorrow, See also:pain or See also:ill-See also:fortune. As a legal See also:term, the See also:action of distraining or distraint, the right which a landlord has of seizing the See also:personal chattels of his See also:tenant for non-See also:payment of See also:rent. See also:Cattle damage feasant (doing damage or trespassing upon a See also:neighbour's See also:land) may also be distrained, i.e. may be detained until See also:satisfaction be rendered for injury they have done. The cattle or other animals thus distrained are a See also:mere See also:pledge in the hands of the injured See also:person, who has only See also:power to retain them until the owner appear to make satisfaction for the See also:mischief they have done. " Distress damage feasant "is also applicable to inanimate things on the land if doing damage thereto or to its produce; things in actual use, however, are exempt. Such distress must be made during the actual trespass, and by whoever is aggrieved by the damage. Distress for rent was also at one See also:time regarded as a mere pledge or See also:security; but the remedy, having been found to be speedy and efficacious, was rendered more perfect by enactments allowing the thing taken to be sold. See also:Blackstone notes that the See also:law of distresses in this respect "has been greatly altered within a few years last past." The legislature, in fact, converted an See also:ancient right of personal redress into a powerful remedy for the exclusive benefit of a single class of creditors, viz. landlords. Now that the relation of landlord and tenant in See also:England has come to be regarded as purely a See also:matter of See also:contract, the See also:language of the law-books seems to be singularly inappropriate. The defaulting tenant is a " wrong-doer," the landlord is the " injured party,"; any See also:attempt to defeat the landlord's remedy by carrying off distrainable goods is denounced as " fraudulent and knavish." The operation of the law has, as we shall point out, been mitigated in some important respects, but it still remains an almost unique specimen of one-sided legislation. At See also:common law distress was said to be incident to rent service, and by particular See also:reservation to rent charges; but by 4 Geo. II. c. 28 it was extended to rent seek, rents of See also:assize and See also:chief rents (see RENT). It is therefore a See also:general remedy for rent certain in arrear. All personal chattels are distrainable with the following exceptions: (1) things in which there can be no See also:property, as animals ferae naturae; (2) ledgers, daybooks, See also:title-deeds, &c.; (3) things delivered to a person following a public See also:trade, as a See also:horse sent to be shod, &c.; (4) things already in the custody of the law; (5) things which cannot be restored in as See also:good a See also:plight as when distrained, that is, perishable articles; (6) See also:fixtures; (7) beasts of the plough and See also:instruments of husbandry while there is other sufficient distress to be found; (8) instruments of a See also:man's trade or profession in actual use at the time the distress is made. If not in actual use they are only privileged in See also:case there is other sufficient distress upon the premises. These exceptions, it will be seen, imply that the thing distrained is to be held as a pledge merely—not to be sold. They also imply that in general any chattels found on the land in question are to be available for the benefit of the landlord, whether they belong to the tenant or not. This principle worked with See also:peculiar harshness in the case of lodgers, whose goods might be seized and sold for the payment of the rent due by their landlord to his See also:superior landlord. By the Lodgers' Goods See also:Protection See also:Act 1871, however, where a lodger's goods have been seized by the superior landlord the lodger may serve him with a See also:notice stating that the intermediate landlord has no See also:interest in the property seized, but that it is the property or in the lawful See also:possession of the lodger, and setting forth the amount of the rent due by the lodger to his immediate landlord. On payment or See also:tender of such rent the landlord cannot proceed with the distress against the goods in question. By the Law of Distress See also:Amendment Act 1908 this protection was extended to under tenants liable to pay rent by equal quarterly instalments, as well as to any person whatsoever who is not a tenant of the premises or any See also:part thereof nor has any beneficial interest therein. The act, however, excludes certain goods, particularly goods belonging to the See also:husband or wife of the tenant whose rent is, in arrear, goods comprised in any See also:bill of See also:sale, hire See also:purchase agreement or See also:settlement made by the tenant, goods in the possession or disposition of a tenant by the consent and permission of the true owner under such circumstances as to make the tenant reputed owner, goods of the partner of an immediate tenant, and goods (not being goods of a lodger) upon premises where any trade or business is carried on in which both the immediate tenant and the under tenant have an interest. The act does not apply where an under tenancy has been created in See also:breach of a See also:covenant or agreement between the landlord and his immediate tenant. The Law of Distress Amendment Act 1888 also absolutely exempted from distress the tools and implements of trade and wearing See also:apparel and bedding of a tenant and his See also:family to the value of five pounds, and the Law of Distress Amendment Act 1895 gave power to a See also:court of See also:summary See also:jurisdiction to See also:direct that such goods, when distrained upon, should be restored if not sold, or, if sold, to See also:order their value to be paid by the persons who levied the distress or directed it to be levied. Originally the landlord could only seize things actually on the premises, so that the remedy might be defeated by the things being taken away. But by an act of 1710 , and by the Distress for Rent Act 1737, he may follow things fraudulently 0I clandestinely removed off the premises within See also:thirty days after their removal, unless they have been in the meantime See also:bona fide sold for a valuable See also:consideration. The See also:sixth exception mentioned above was held to extend to sheaves of See also:corn; but by an act of 1690 corn, when reaped, as well as See also:hay, was made subject to distress. That act was modified by the Landlord and Tenant Act 1851, under which growing crops seized by the See also:sheriff and sold under an See also:execution are liable to distress for rent which becomes due after the seizure and sale, if there is no other sufficient distress on the premises. Excessive or disproportionate distress exposes the distrainer to an action, and any irregularity formerly made the proceedings void ab inilio, so that the remedy was attended with considerable See also:risk. The Distress for Rent Act 1737, before alluded to, in the interests of landlords, protected distresses for rent from the consequences of irregularity. In all cases of distress for rent, if the owner do not within five days (by the Law of Distress Amendment Act 1888, fifteen days, if the tenant make a See also:request in See also:writing to the person levying the distress and also give security for any additional cost that may be occasioned by such See also:extension of time) replevy the same with sufficient security, the thing distrained may be sold towards satisfaction of the rent and charges, and the surplus, if any, must be returned to the owner. To " replevy " is when the person distrained upon applies to the proper authority (the registrar of the See also:county court) to have the thing returned to his own possession, on giving security to try the right of taking it in an action of See also:replevin. Duties and penalties imposed by act of See also:parliament (e.g. payment of rates and taxes) are sometimes enforced by distress. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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